Garage door lock



Dec. 20, 1966 J. c. DYER GARAGE DOOR LOCK Filed July 8, 1965 ATTORNEY United States Patent ()fiice 3,292,399 Patented Dec. 20, 1966 3,292,399 GARAGE DOOR LOCK John Charles Dyer, 14301 Aztec St., Sylmar, Calif. 91342 Filed July 8, 1965, Ser. No. 470,391 2 Claims. (Cl. 70100) This application is a continuation-in-part of my pending application, bearing the same title, Serial No. 286,814, filed June 10, 1963, and now abandoned.

This invention relates to a lock structure for overhead garage doors and has for an object to provide a lock structure for locking such a door both closed or open, as the case may be. Locking the door closed is for the usual purpose of preventing unauthorized entry, and locking the door open provides the safety feature of preventing an overhead door from falling accidentally, as may be caused by wind or rain,'failu're of hardware mounting the door, or for any other reason.

Another object of the invention is to provide a lock for an overhead door in which a tumbler lockhas a cylinder with an outer operating handle, and a plug that is connected to door-locking bolts, said handle, when freed from the plug by a key, being free to turn, thereby leaving the bolts in door-locking position, and when locked to the plug by said key, constituting means to retract said bolts to non-locking position.

A further object of the invention is to provide a garage door lock, as above characterized, in which an inner handle is turnable to retract the bolts when the door is in garage-closing position, as well as when the door is in locked overhead position, both such operations being adapted to be carried out regardless whether or not the handle and plug are locked together.

A further object of the invention is to provide an overhead garage door lock means that embodies hard-to-cut bolts on opposite sides of the door to, thereby, provide increased protection.

This invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position, and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description and which is based on the accompanying drawing. However, said drawing merely shows, and the following description merely describes, one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawing, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of a garage with an overhead door showing the manner of application of the present lock structure.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged and broken rear view of said door and the lock structure carried thereby.

FIG. 3 is a further enlarged vertical sectional view as taken substantially on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a similarly enlarged vertical sectional view as taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5, to the scale of FIG. 2, is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken through a side wall of the garage, showing the manner of locking the door in the open position of FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 shows a typical garage building having a front opening 5 and show-ing one of the side walls 6 that mounts the hardware 7 on which the door 8 is mounted to move between a closed position and an open overhead position on a pivot 9. The above embodies the general environment for the present locking means 10 that is shown best in FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5.

The locking means 10 comprises, generally, a doormounted, tumbler lock mechanism 11 that is provided with an outer rotationally mounted cylinder 12 having a handle 13 and is fitted with a plug 14 which extends through the door, an actuator lever 15 connected to the plug 14 to turn therewith, oppositely extending dead bolt means 16 connected to the plug upon rotative movement of the latter to engage and release a pair of door keepers 17 on the door ja-mb 18 flanking the opening 5, when the door is in vertical, closed position, and to engage and release a pair of abutment members 19 on the side walls 6 of the garage building, when the door 8 is in overhead open position, and an inner operating handle 20 afiixed to the plug 14 for moving the bolt means 16 both when the lock cylinder 12 is locked to the plug 14 and released therefrom.

The lock mechanism 11 includes the usual tumbler means that, by means of a key 21, either locks said plug 14 to the cylinder 12 or frees these two members for relative rotation. When the cylinder and plug are locked together, the handle 13 on the cylinder, when turned, turns the plug and its polygonal extension 22; when freed from each other, rotation of the handle 13 cannot rotate the plug 14, although the latter is rotatable independently of the lock handle 13.

The actuator lever 15 is connected to the plug extension 22 to turn therewith and may have any suitable shape provided the same has diametrally opposite pivot holes 23. A spacer tube 24 over the extension and between the door 8 and the lever 24, locates the lever 15 on said extension.

The dead bolt means 16 is shown as comprising bolts 25 pivotally connected to the pivot holes 23 and extending in opposite directions through clearance holes 26 provided in the door-reinforcing studs 27 and, finally, through guide holes 28 in the side edge framing members 29 of the door 8. In this case the ends of the bolts 25 are shown as enlargements 30 which, according to common practice, are hardened, rendering cutting therethrough difficult.

As shown in FIG. 2, which shows one of the door jambs 18, the other jamb being the same, the bolt keepers or strike plates 17 of the two jambs receive the bolt enlargements 30 to efiectively lock the door closed, as in the dot-dash line position of FIG. 1. While such keepers or strike plates may be provided in the abutment members 19 to provide a similar locking of the door 8 in overhead position, the same may be omitted and, as shown in FIG. 5, the bolt ends 30, under acuation of the handle 20, may be extended over the top edges of the abutment members, thereby effectively locking the door 8 open.

The handle 20, whether affixed to the plug extension 22 by a nut 31, as shown, or to the lever 15, as radial extension thereof, is capable of turning said lever, when turned in one direction, projects the bolts 25 from engagement with the keepers 17 or the abutment members 19, as the case may be, and in the other direction, retracts said bolts from said keepers or abutment members. Since the plug 14 is rotational with the handle 13 or rela tive thereto, i.e., at all times, the handle 20 may be turned, when the door is in raised, overhead position, to project the bolts 25 and so lock the door against accident-ally falling down from such position or retract said bolts so the door may be lowered. Said handle 20 may be turned from the inside, when the door is in down position to either project or retract said bolts.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what is now contemplated to be the best mode of carrying out the invention, the construction is, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and 'scope of the invention. Therefore, it is not desired to restrict 3 4 the invention to the particular form of construction illussion, plug and cylinder, to move the bolts between trated and described, but to cover all modifications that retracted "and projected positions; may fall within the scope of the appended claims. (f) said lever 'being similarly movable by rotation of Having thus described this invention, what is claimed said plug by manual rotation of the handle-provided and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is: 5 cylinder when a key is fitted into the key opening in 1. In a lock for securing in both open and closed posisaid plug and the tumblers are projected into Said tions at door mounted on horizontal pivots for movement cylinder to lock the cylinder and P and Said hallfrom a vertical closed position to a horizontal upper positile-provided cylinder being freely rotatable when tion in which the inner face of the door is lowermost, com- Said tumblers are Withdrawn by said key; and prising: (g) means cooperating with said pair of bolts for en- (a) a. key-operated tumbler lock comprising a cylinder gagemeht With the latter in both dOOr C d a rotatably carried by the door and extending out- I P HBd PO i i II. wardly from the outer face of the door with a handle 2. The Structure f claim 1 rac e zed in that th rigidly fixed on it o te d, d a k l bl ends of said bolts are formed with enlarged hardened end plug rotatable in said cylinder and including a key Portionsopening and tumblers for engaging said cylinder, an Reffil'ellces Cited y the Examine! inwardly directed elongated axial extension fixed to UNITED STATES PATENTS said plug and extending through and beyond the m- 1,495,820 5/1924 Tierney 70 118 X Her face the Structure 1 858 804 5/1932 Carlson 70146 (b) an inner actuator lever fixed between its ends to the 119 10/1932 T 70 21i6 said extension and spaced outwardly from the ad- F ,899,996 3/1933 Sullivan 70216 g t b t 1,909,697 5/1933 MacBeth et al. 292- 0 a spacer u e over sat ex enslon e ween sai 1,960 410 5/1934 Christensen 218 X lever and 1979 893 11/1934 L ons 70 417 (d) a pair of bolts pivotally connected to the ends of 25 y 2,427,909 9/1947 Howell 70216 said lever and extending 1n opposite directions; 2708473 5 /1955 Wolf et a1 201 (e) an inner handle fixed to the outer face of said lever to move the latter around the axis of the exten- BOBBY R. GAY. Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A LOCK FOR SECURING IN BOTH OPEN AND CLOSED POSITIONS A DOOR MOUNTED ON HORIZONTAL PIVOTS FOR MOVEMENT FROM VERTICAL CLOSED POSITION TO A HORIZONTAL UPPER POSITION IN WHICH THE INNER FACE OF THE DOOR IS LOWERMOST, COMPRISING: (A) A KEY-OPERATED TUMBLER LOCK COMPRISING A CYLINDER ROTATABLY CARRIED BY THE DOOR AND EXTENDING OUTWARDLY FROM THE OUTER FACE OF THE DOOR WITH A HANDLE RIGIDLY FIXED ON ITS OUTER END, AND A KEY-RELEASABLE PLUG ROTATABLE IN SAID CYLINDER AND INCLUDING A KEY OPENING AND TUMBLERS FOR ENGAGING SAID CYLINDER, AN INWARDLY DIRECTED ELONGATED AXIAL EXTENSION FIXED TO SAID PLUG AND EXTENDING THROUGH AND BEYOND THE INNER FACE OF THE DOOR STRUCTURE; (B) AN INNER ACTUATOR LEVER FIXED BETWEEN ITS ENDS OF THE SAID EXTENSION AND SPACED OUTWARDLY FROM THE ADJACENT FACE OF THE DOOR; (C) A SPACER TUBE OVER SAID EXTENSION BETWEEN SAID ACTUATOR LEVER AND DOOR; (D) A PAIR OF BOLTS PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO THE ENDS OF SAID LEVER AND EXTENDING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS; (E) AN INNER HANDLE FIXED TO THE OUTER FACE OF SAID LEVER TO MOVE THE LATTER AROUND THE AXIS OF THE EXTENSION, PLUG AND CYLINDER, TO MOVE THE BOLTS BETWEEN RETRACTED AND PROJECTED POSITIONS; (F) SAID LEVER BEING SIMILARLY MOVABLE BY ROTATION OF SAID PLUG BY A MANUAL ROTATION OF THE HANDLE-PROVIDED CYLINDER WHEN A KEY IS FITTED INTO THE KEY OPENING IN SAID PLUG AND THE TUMBLERS ARE PROJECTED INTO SAID CYLINDER TO LOCK THE CYLINDER AND PLUG AND SAID HANDLE-PROVIDED CYLINDER BEING FREELY ROTATABLE WHEN SAID TUMBLERS ARE WITHDRAWN BY SAID KEY; AND (G) MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID PAAIR OF BOLTS FOR ENGAGEMENT WITH THE LATTER IN BOTH DOOR CLOSED AND DOOR OPENED POSITION. 